The fees reduction would cost £800m, which Labour proposes to pay by reversing the recent cut in corporation tax, and by charging graduates earning over £65,000 a higher rate of interest.

The universities minister, David Willetts, described the announcement as a "monumental U-turn":

"Ed Miliband has now accepted that tuition fees should be doubled to £6,000 a year. He has consistently supported a graduate tax and Labour MPs were whipped to vote against higher fees at the end of last year. This monumental U-turn is evidence of weak leadership."

But Miliband told the BBC he endorsed a graduate tax when possible, and he would cut fees further if he could find a way to do so:

"If we can do more by the time of the election [in 2015], we will. But this is an important first step."

Willetts asked if the repayments would be lower for the lowest earning students.

Liam Burns, president of the NUS, said:

"You have to think who this benefits. Because of the 30-year cut-off – in which your debt would be written off under the system being proposed – actually taking the cap down to £6,000 would benefit the richest the most."The NUS judgment was based on figures which showed that the alteration made no difference for students earning under £35,000. Under a £9,000 or £6,000 cap, students earning under £35,000 would be exempted from paying off the full debt.

"In particular seaside areas and coastal areas, they don't have the energy – they haven't come from a culture where they've got work, they think there's a more limited range of things they can aspire to."You have to open their minds that they can go to the city, they can go abroad. You can't turn around a school without turning around a community."

More education news from the Guardian

• Letters: The arresting and detention of student protestor Edd Bauer is an attempt to criminalise peaceful protest and to dissuade other young people from taking part in movements to defend education.

From the Manchester Guardian archive

The first ever issue of the Guardian - which was then the Manchester Guardian - carried a list of schools in Manchester and Salford. It detailed the number of pupils and the average annual spend. The newspaper's aim was to document educational provision. Here's what the Guardian's present day data editor, Simon Rogers, said about it on his datablog:

In today's world of Ofsted reports and education department school rankings, this list would not seem unusual. In 1821, it caused a sensation. Leaked to the Guardian by a credible source only identified as "NH", it showed how official estimates of only 8,000 children receiving free education were inaccurate - in fact the total was nearer 25,000.The list that the Guardian printed gave a true picture for the first time. NH's reasons for supplying the data were clear: without knowing the state of society, how can things ever get any better? This was using data to help fight for a decent education system.

Education comment

"Studying film is still seen by many as a scam. And yet my granddaughter Tilda makes films on my iPhone. Egyptians changed their political regime with short films posted on the internet. Mike Tindall is compromised on CCTV thousands of miles away from his royal wife. And, of course, all of us can make and upload a film on to YouTube with our mobile phones. Commercials on TV, movies in cinemas, video lectures in the classroom – all examples about how film has progressed spectacularly from being a remote form of industrialised entertainment to become a medium for self-expression available to all; one perhaps as powerful as the spoken and written word."

• Nobody asks a runner or swimmer why they want to be the fastest, but time and time again people question the thirst to know for the sake of knowing. As he takes up his position as the principal of Hertford College, Will Hutton makes a passionate defence of Englightenment principles.

Britain has absent-mindedly acquired – relative to its size – more great universities than anywhere else, with 14 of the world's top 100 universities. It is a national asset that we need to protect and cultivate. Instead, the university world feels beleaguered and undervalued. The popular view of our universities is poisonous: peopled by idle, ivory tower academics who are careless of their students and who only with the greatest of prodding can be induced both to teach and furnish the ideas that industry can commercialise and so drive the economy forward.

In tomorrow's Education Guardian pages

• Newly qualified teachers this year are finding 40% fewer vacancies. Are we simply training too many? Dorothy Lepkowska reports on calls for a moratorium on training to clear the backlog... and talks to unemployed teachers about the misery of the jobsearch.

• Estelle Morris calls on the Labour party to make a policy commitment to having an independent watchdog, following Michael Gove's selective use of evidence to back up his "prejudices"

Education news from around the web

• 20% of freshers have never washed their own clothes before and 14% cannot even boil an egg, according to a survey carried out by Sainsbury's Finance which has been written up in The Independent.

• A teacher found embracing a schoolgirl at Dulverton school in Somerset has avoided a prison sentence, the BBC has reported. 49-year-old James Bond admitted that he had kissed the young teenager on previous occasions. The jury was told he also sent her explicit videos, and chatted to her on Facebook. Judge Graham Hume Jones told Bond:

"Girls of that age are flattered by the attention of teachers and also they are to be protected against themselves."

• American school children who are having trouble getting up early are being offered celebrity wake up calls. In October Get Schooled is launching a series of telephone messages from education ambassadors in the pop world. Rap artist Wiz Khalifa; singer, and entrepreneur Nicki Minaj, and Singer, record producer and actor Trey Songz, have all record pep talks.

Minaj's message is: "Good morning students, this is Nicki Minaj, and it's time to get up and get schooled", other callers say: "You've gotta get up to get ahead", and "Showtime, come'on, let's go, let's work, let's work".

There was conspicuously little talk of higher education from politicians, until Vince Cable suggested high-drop out rates are likely to face scrutiny, says Kim Catcheside

Education seminars from Guardian Professional

The Guardian Teacher Network runs training sessions for teachers throughout the year in Yorkshire and London. Upcoming courses include:

Is your school thinking of becoming an academy?

This seminar will provide an independent view of the advantages and disadvantages of converting to academy status. It will look at the process of conversion, the implications of academy status, and the support and funding available. November 30, in London. February 21, 2012 in Yorkshire

Protecting young people in a digital age

Led by school digital safety experts, this one-day course will provide safeguarding policy and Ofsted criteria updates, as well as looking at social media and offering practical advice to help your school develop its digital safety policies. February 1, 2012 in London. February 8, 2012 in Yorkshire.

Teachers seminars from the Guardian Education Centre

This half-day conference for secondary school teachers will explore the use and teaching of classic books from Dickens and beyond. Keynote speakers will be Simon Callow, actor and Dickens enthusiast and Judy Golding, daughter of William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies.

Spend a day at the Guardian and find out how an international news media organisation works. The seminar will focus on aspects of digital journalism including writing and editing for a news website, the relationship between print and web journalism, live blogging, the use of social media, podcasting and video production.